Description

Tiyaa, a member of an aristocratic family, returns home to the Sultanate of Zinder in Niger after completing a degree abroad. She is formally bound to wed a young man from a prestigious family, a match that she cannot oppose. But Tiyaa’s heart aches over the memory of a lost love. Reluctantly, she speaks with a zimma, a Zarma Songhay wise man, who urges her to find a plain gold wedding band on the eve of the new moon, which will ease her pain. Skeptical, Tiyaa decides that she not only has the time, but nothing to lose, and so wanders her community before the new moon. On her travels, she meets other women who share their stories of love and passion, and of how they coped with pain and compromise.

The Wedding Ring is director Rahmatou Keïta’s first narrative feature.

Director’s Biography

Rahmatou Keïta: “I want to pay tribute to beauty, to age-long and sumptuous architecture and costumes.” So speaks Rahmatou Keïta, of her film The Wedding Ring (in the Women and Hollywood blog). Keïta was born in Niger and studied philosophy and linguistics in Paris, and there began a career as a journalist.

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund, and a grant from the Wells Fargo Foundation.